ANUBIS (Weigher of hearts) (2023) Dessin par Vadim Ponomarenko

A section of the Papyrus of Ani showing the
"weighing of the heart," depicting Anubis
manipulating the scales, weighing the heart
of the deceased against Maat's feather of truth.
One of the roles of Anubis was as the "Guardian
of the Scales." The critical scene depicting the
weighing of the heart, in the Book of the
Dead, shows Anubis performing a
measurement that determined whether the
person was worthy of entering the realm
of the dead (the underworld, known as Duat).
By weighing the heart of a deceased
person against ma'at, who was often
represented as an ostrich feather,
Anubis dictated the fate of souls.
Souls heavier than a feather would be
devoured by Ammit, and souls lighter than a
feather would ascend to a heavenly existence.
The parentage of Anubis varied between myths,
times and sources. In early mythology, he was
portrayed as a son of Ra. In the Coffin Texts,
which were written in the First Intermediate Period
(c. 2181-2055 BC), Anubis is the son of either the
COW goddess Hesat or the cat-headed Bastet.
Another tradition depicted him as the son of Ra LUC
and Nephthys.
The Greek Plutarch (c. 40-120 AD) reported a
tradition that Anubis was the illegitimate son of
Nephthys and Osiris, but that he was adopted by
Osiris's wife Isis:
For when Isis found out that Osiris loved her
sister and had relations with her in mistaking her
sister for herself, and when she saw a proof of it
in the form of a garland of clover that he had left
to Nephthys she was looking for a baby, because
Nephthys abandoned it at once after it had been
born for fear of Set; and when Isis found the baby
helped by the dogs which with great difficulties
lead her there, she raised him and he became
her guard and ally by the name of Anubis.

Thèmes connexes

MythologyEgyptDrawingModern ArtGraphics